You might be just as surprised as I was to find out Dia de Los Muertos seems to build for about a month leading up to All Souls Day, not just the day itself. I suppose this is not unlike any commercialized holiday anywhere? There are things to buy and altars to dress. Like any …
Paula Deen’s lovechild with that God-awful Duck Dynasty dad is reportedly furious after footage of a racist man berating an elderly Black woman went viral this week. Among the many things he will likely get away with shouting: “I will carry on as far as I can with this ugly black bastard,” and then threatened to …
No one knows who smuggled Symphony No. 7 out of Russia. But in an inspired flourish Dmitri Shostakovitch wrote it, start to finish, as the Nazis invaded Leningrad. The siege lasted almost 900 days and wiped out some 600,000 residents – almost a third of the pre-war population. Shostakovitch’s composition runs almost 80 minutes long …
The only podcast I listen to with eager dedication is Writing Excuses. Hosted by a merry band of mostly science fiction and fantasy authors with frequent guest authors, their craftsmanship and tutelage also includes book-of-the-week reading recommendations. Author Mary Robinette-Kowal challenged herself for a year to only read non-American authors. Her co-host, author Dan Wells …
Are you an American* watching fútbol in Mexico? Wishing you were watching football instead? Perhaps procuring a little bit of Spanish slang will help you experience some of the excitement that defines this sport worldwide. It’s easy! You don’t have to lie to your wife and fly to a match in another country in order …
It’s true, not all heroes wear capes. And not all linguists use their powers, or their white male privilege, for good. But then there’s Jackson Katz. Right out of the gate he cites feminist linguist Julia Penelope. I didn’t even know there was such a thing nor had I heard of her. But his TED talks …
What the Oktoberfest in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon lacked in bratwurst, brötchen and sauerkraut it made up for with live faux punk, a mechanical bull, a ferris wheel that goes backwards and individual beer pong sponsored by Telcel. Although I generally don’t think one-time attendance qualifies anyone as an expert on anything, I offer anyone interested …
Apparently Dan Brown is the Elizabeth Gilbert of grocery-store thrillers. Too easy, vapid and pandering. Or worse. Based on the overwhelmingly condescending and high-brow dismissiveness his books might as well be 50 Shades of Simple Mysteries. Twilight for adults who romanticize European art and architecture, historical mystery and political-ish intrigue. Book lovers and literary snobs …
Some 20 years after I was bowled over by this sweeping saga at the historic McDonald Theatre in my hometown, I stumbled across the novel in one of my favorite second-hand stores. We had read much of Michael Ondaatje’s The Cinnamon Peeler in a college poetry workshop but for some inexcusable reason I had never …
When white people hear the words privilege or privileged they almost always react negatively to the implication that they have not earned what they have or where they are in life. In a highly meritocratic society ‘privileged’ can only be taken as an insult meaning that you didn’t work hard. That you’re spoiled. Yet we …